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Pre-ban Beretta 92 Magazine?

tangaratangara Member Posts: 133 ✭✭
edited March 2017 in Ask the Experts
I just picked up a pre-ban Beretta 92 magazine made by Mec-Gar. It has PB CAL. 9 PARA MADE IN ITALY on left side / right side has ASSY9346413-65490. Does this magazine have any value, being a pre-ban? I purchased it to modify it to see if it would work in another 9mm handgun, but I will not bubba it if it is rare and desirable. I do believe it has a aluminum folower and base plate. Any info on these?

Comments

  • rufe-snowrufe-snow Member Posts: 18,649 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Got the following off the net.



    ""My pre-bans say "PB CAL. 9 PARA MADE IN ITALY" on the left side and "ASSY 9346413-65490" on the right side."

    This gentleman from South Carolina is correct. The only Factory Beretta 92/M9 magazines that can be definitively identified as "pre-ban" for those folks in banned States (New York) are the original, M9/92 mags sold to the the United States Military from approx. 1984 to around 1992. The exact magazine with the exact markings above. The key is the part-number and Cage Code (actual manufacturer is Pietro Beretta/Beretta USA) stamped on the right-hand side of the magazine body (ASSY 9346413-65490). While this isn't exactly common knowledge to anyone outside of the "gun world", it is never the less, correct information.

    The only variation to the above is the exact same magazine was manufactured in Maryland for the same US government contract from around 1988 to around 1992. Same part-number and Cage-code on the right-hand side of the mag body with one minor change, the part-number adds an apostrophe "*'Y 9346413-65490" then the roll-mark on the left-hand side of the magazine-body states "P.B. CAL. 9 PARA MADE IN U.S.A.".

    The early Italian-made magazines have a fine, polished-steel finish with light parkerizing, which wears quickly and tends to rust rather easily. The American-made mags have a rougher, thicker parkerized finish that wears better and resists rust well. Both will have the original aluminum followers until they both changed to plastic sometime around 1989 or so. It has been said that Pietro Beretta in Gardone, Italy had the original M9/92 magazine production contracted out to the Italian firm of Mec-Gar for the first couple of years. Since the original contract stated that every gun be shipped with two magazines plus an additional six (6) to be supplied when available, it would not surprise me that Beretta had Mec-Gar help out, if not supply all the M9 magazines for a short-time. I can't confirm that piece of history but I can tell you the original, early M9 magazines marked as above are "Pre-ban" since they haven't been manufactured since the early-1990's. Good luck."
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